The $1.8million Inglis Easter sale-topper in 2023, unbeaten filly Autumn Glow returned from an injury enforced spell to score a dazzling first up win in the $200,000 Listed ATC Darby Munro Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Trained by Chris Waller and ridden by James McDonald, Autumn Glow has had three barrier trials in preparation for her return and was fit and ready to fire after being sidelined with minor surgery last year to remove a bone chip from her knee.
The powerhouse daughter of The Autumn Sun parked behind the leaders and accelerated all the way to the line to run down last start stakes-winning I Am Invincible colt Enriched, who stuck to the task gamely, but went down by a couple of lengths.
Autumn Glow has won four from four earning over $520,000, but you do get the feeling we’ve barely scratched the surface with this rising star.
“I think it's exciting and we don't know about her, so we're still learning about what her best distance is,” said Chris Waller.
“Her dad (The Autumn Sun) was a champion in my eyes and he got out to 2,000 metres, but she's got so much speed; she's out of a champion mare from South Africa who had speed, so we're going to find a happy spot in between and James will obviously tell us a lot today.
“There's a little bit of pressure on us today, so we asked her to perform and she duly did… done a fantastic job.”
The $1million Group II Arrowfield Stud Stakes (1200m) at Randwick against the colts is a likely next target.
“I think it'll; I'll need a little bit of help to persuade not to run in the Arrowfield because obviously the Arrowfield connection, but logically it does look a nice race in three weeks' time over 1200 metres,” Waller added.
James McDonald was thrilled to get the job done in a race that didn’t exactly go to plan.
“The win was better than it looked because I was stuck in a really odd spot, drawn three, it was three wide for a bit. The inside ones made us work a tad, so I was a little bit out of my comfort zone,” he said.
“If she wasn't Autumn Glow, I probably would have taken her back and ridden like a 10-1 chance, but we took no chances because she is very good, and it's good to get that one out of the way.”
Bred by Newhaven Park Stud, Autumn Glow was a $600,000 pinhook for Silverdale Farm/Shrone Bloodstock at the 2022 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
Silverdale consigned the daughter of The Autumn Sun to the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where Arrowfield Pastoral / Hermitage Thoroughbreds had the final say at a sale-topping $1.8million.
A three-quarter-sister to Newgate Farm’s Group I ATC Golden Rose Stakes winner In The Congo (Snitzel), Autumn Glow is the third winner from as many to race for the Champion Sprinter in South Africa in 2013-14, Via Africa (SAF).
The daughter of the Forest Wildcat stallion Var won ten races highlighted by the Group 1 Scottsville South African Fillies Sprint (twice), and the Kenilworth Cape Flying Championship.
Via Africa has not had a foal since Autumn Glow, but was covered last spring by I Am Invincible.
